Ware's New Deal Actually Worth $78,000,001 Which May Cause Problems

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Every report about DeMarcus Ware's new deal with the Cowboys pegs the value of the contract at $78 million. Those reports are all incorrect. It's true that Ware is due to receive that amount over the life of the deal, but he's already collected one dollar from Jerry Jones.

Ware told Mike Fisher of Blogging the Boys that the Double J approached him after the extension was signed and handed him a $1 bill. Jones didn't mistake him for the guy who parked his car, there was actually a message scribbled on the bill.

"THIS IS MY LAST OFFER. YOUR GREAT. JERRY JONES"

It's a nice gesture, but there's a problem with it beyond Jones's confusion about when to use "your" and when "you're" is appropriate.

Andrew Brandt of the National Football Post reports that other teams have been in contact with the NFL to find out if that dollar was given to Ware before the deal was signed and if it was included in the terms of the contract. If it was given before and/or not included in the contract terms, it would constitute a violation of the salary cap.

Good lord. Are other teams really under the impression that this under the table payment is what sealed the deal? The sort of person who thinks that Ware wasn't going to accept the Cowboys offer until he saw a misspelled message on a bill that wouldn't buy a cup of decent coffee is the sort of person who should be writing traffic tickets for a living instead of being involved in football. There's the letter of the law and the spirit of a law, the 31 other NFL teams would be wise to refresh themselves on the difference.

The scariest thing about this is that Roger Goodell's history says he's just the kind of humorless stick in the mud that would actually punish Jones and the Cowboys for this. No Fun League indeed.